Hulon Brocke Whittington was born on July 9, 1921 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He was residing elsewhere in the state when he enlisted in the United States Army on August 21, 1940. I have reason to believe he was a member of the Louisiana National Guard federalized along with other guardsmen in the run-up to World War II, but could not confirm that (more below).

"[I]f we fail, then the whole world,…all that we have known and cared for…will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that…men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'” — Winston S. Churchill, June 18, 1940